June 22, 2008

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Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Please read

Matthew 10:24-39

Read also

Genesis 21:8-21
Psalm 86:1-10

Psalm 86:16-17
Romans 6:1b-11

"A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master;

it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master.  If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

"So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.

What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.

Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  And even the hairs of your head are all counted.

So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven;  but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;  and one's foes will be members of one's own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

“Will you be loyal by your witness?”

“Will you be loyal to The United Methodist Church and uphold it by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness?

 (Revised membership vow of the United Methodist Church)

It’s all well and good

to pledge my loyalty to Christ

and to his church.

So here’s how it goes:

I will be loyal with my prayers,

     for that’s both the least

     and the most that I can do;

And my presence,

     for I have found a blessed fellowship

     and dare not absent myself,
And my gifts,

     for I have found more pleasure in giving

     than in the selfish squirreling away

     of my cash to feed my own appetites

     or save it anxiously for a rainy day,

And my service,

     for there is real satisfaction

     in doing something for someone else,

     especially intramurally,

     within the company of congenial people

     we call “church,”

     helping one another.

Those four promises seemed to be enough,

and I was comfortable with them. 

But now they’ve broadened

the definition of discipleship

by tacking on another

“Will you be loyal… by… your witness?”

Aside from the ambiguity,

this pledge can be daunting.

What does it really mean?

Maybe this Gospel vignette

can throw some light upon the way. 

It’s telling to the world by word and deed 

the good Good News,

regardless of consequences,

heedless of danger,

knowing we rest secure in the hands of God,

our name known, our very hairs numbered.

It’s launching into life each day,

knowing full-well that danger stalks our path,

that loyalty to Christ may bring

its share of strife and division.           

It’s living with  the awareness

that the weight of a cross

may cause our back and our heart to ache.

It’s being faithful through all that.

Considering all this,

I will nonetheless be loyal

by my witness,

risking to lose my life in order to find it.

---rvc